1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to filament-wound reinforced plastic articles and more particularly to such filament-wound reinforced plastic articles, the filaments of which are coated with and embedded in an organic polymer obtained by addition polymerization, to a porcess of making such filament-wound reinforced plastic articles, and to using the same.
2. Description of the prior Art
It is known to produce reinforced plastic parts or articles of high strength and relatively light weight by the so-called filament-winding process. This process consists in winding continuous fibers or filaments encased or embedded in a matrix of a suitable resinous material into a definite pattern. The resin-encased filament is wound continuously on a form or mandrel of a shape which corresponds to the inner structure of the plastic part or article to be manufactured. After curing the resin, the form either can be discarded or it forms an integral part of the resulting structure.
It is also known to use, for instance, epoxy resins or polyester resins on account of their low viscosity at room temperature, to coat and impregnate fibers and filaments, such as glass, graphite, carbon, boron, steel, asbestos, and the like fibers and filaments, to convert such coated and impregnated fibers or filaments to filament-wound articles, and to harden and cure the resulting wound article thermally so as to produce the desired filament-wound reinforced plastic article. The resulting wound reinforced plastics have properties which depend upon the properties of the fibers or filaments used as well as upon the properties of the reinforcing plastic.
It is also known to dissolve prepolymerization products or monomeric polymerizable compounds which are solid at room temperature, in suitable solvents, to impregnate the fibers or filaments therewith, and to convert the resulting impregnated fibers or filaments into wound articles. Thereby the solvent is removed during the filament winding process and/or during the hardening and curing process. The resulting wound articles, however, have a high pore volume due to the removal of the solvent during or after winding.